I got a call from a friend yesterday asking to take a look at a
computer. Since I am a glutton for punishment and an all-around
nice guy, I agreed to do so. I can't complain, as I have gotten
both breakfast and beer out of the deal.
Well, the machine in question is a eMachines T4155 running Windows XP
Home Edition. I shuddered when I saw this combination, and I
shuddered even more when met with the blue screen which occurred upon
each bootup of the machine:
STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
I tried to boot the machine using the Knoppix-STD Linux CD, but that
did not work. Damn eMachines and its graphics card! I
decided to go with the Windows Recovery Console from the Windows XP
CD-ROM. I was able to boot the OS, then it was time to run chkdsk /r
on the machine. Then, I waited for a while--a long while. The machine
ended the disk scan, and I was able to boot into Windows XP.
Well, the machine had absolutely no virus-protection. None.
Also, it is running Windows XP with NO Service Pack. I get out my
USB thumb-drive with all my goodies, and I install Microsoft
AntiSpyware and the latest version of McAfee VirusScan. I ran the
MS AntiSpyware on the machine, and I was greeted with the results
below.
As you can see, my friend had 48 infections!!!
Some of them were worms and trojans, and others were the typical batch
of spyware. Wonderful. I have my work cut out for me this
afternoon.
Time to put the rubber gloves on, as I will be up to my elbows in an infected Windows machine
3:21:46 PM 
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